Cool job

My husband had a cool security detail this week. His unit worked with the secret service to protect past president Jimmy Carter. Jon is the first on the left. Jon said one of the secret service agents got sick and hurled the entire time they were underway. LOL. This is pretty cool. It is not very often you get to do stuff like this. In other good news, my hubby passed his tests and moved rank. He is now a second class. He was totally stoked. (hows that for an 80's flash back? Stoked) :) We are so proud of him!!!!

Merry Christmas

This is Shayla in her Christmas dress.

The cookie party

Last night I went to a cookie party. I have never been to one before and it turned out to be lots of fun. You have to bake half a dozen cookies for every person that comes. There were fourteen of us there, so we had to bake seven dozen cookies each. It sounds like alot of baking, but most recipes make 2 dozen or more, so it really is not to bad. The good part is you go home with seven dozen cookies, same amount you came with, just a bunch of different kinds.

I picked a new cookie I had never made before. They were called Andies Candies Cookies. I picked them caused they sounded good AND mostly cause one batch made ten dozen cookies. I thought it would make my life easier. :) I was right.

Last night at the party we voted on best cookie, most original cookie and tastiest cookie and I won for tastiest cookie!! How cool is that? I love to win stuff. Here is my award winning cookie recipe. It is made with those andies mints that you can buy at walmart or walgreens. The recipe said you only needed three boxes, but I had to use 4. ENJOY!

Andies Candies Cookies
Makes approx. 10 dozen

3/4 cup butter or margarine

1 1/2 cup brown sugar

2 Tablespoons water

2 eggs

2 cups chocolate chips

2 1/2 cup flour

1 1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

3 boxes Andes candies

In sauce pan over low heat, melt butter; add sugar and water. Then add chocolate chips. Stir until partially melted. Remove from heat; stir , then cool for 5 minutes. Add eggs and dry ingredients; mix with a mixer on low speed until blended. Chill 1 hour. Make into little balls and bake on an ungreased cookie sheet at 350 degrees for 10-13 minutes. While still hot, put Andies candy mint on each cookie, let it get soft then swirl mint with spoon. Cool on baking rack.

thirty, flirty, and thriving!

Yesterday was my thirtieth birthday. I cannot believe I have left my twenty's. I am no longer "twenty-something." I am officially old. LOL. The good news is that we got to come to D-town after all. So I was able to spend my birthday weekend around family and friends. Friday night was appetizer night with the pregnant princess. Saturday was a massive shopping morning and that night we went to an expensive restaurant with Kdarling (aka pregnant princess) and ate like kings and queens.

I am so blessed. When I was a teenager my mom started an awesome tradition with me that we still continue today. It is a birthday week. Every year, the week leading up to your birthday, you get one present a day. In general the gifts are small and sorta 'build up' as the week progresses. The gifts are normally small inexpensive things, nothing major. It has turned out to be the best tradition. I love it. Last year, my baby girl turned 12 and I started her first birthday week. I love traditions, especially ones that involve me getting presents. Who wouldn't?

What cool traditions do you have?

The tooth is here!!

My baby has her first tooth!!! Somehow I thought once it came in, it would stop hurting. Today has been the worst day ever, and it is only half over!! Poor baby.... poor mommy. I am excited though, she has a tooth on her bottom front. Maybe tomorrow will be better.

Lysh sings

Lysh is a member of a homeschool girls choir. They went to two nursing homes and sang for the residents on Monday. That is her on the back row, third from the left. Jon's only job was to take some pics. They all turned out to be grainy and out of focus. I don't know how he manages to take such awful pictures with our brand new camera.

This is me, lysh and her friend on Tuesday. (I am the short one in the middle). We were going to a small town about 45 minutes away. There is a little famous place there that is a big tourist attraction. It is called "Rogers Christmas House." It is actually five separate houses, all different Christmas themes. It was supposed to be cool, but it turned out to be kinda sad. We went with another couple friend and made a whole day out of it, so it turned out to be fun.

The Week of dresses - Part 2

This is Thursday. It is hot here in Florida. We wore this dress to meet Shay's new doctor. I will blog more about that awful experience soon.

This red dress is one of 3 Christmas dresses we have. It is really almost too small, but it was cute. This is Friday.

This is Friday afternoon. It is not a dress, but it was so cute, I took a picture. She has so many matching outfits. It is now cold again in Florida. We went to the mall.

0

This is Saturday morning. It is still cold, so this a long sleeve dress. It lasted about an hour and that stupid flap kept hitting her in the face. I took it off and put a one piece on her. :)

Here is our church dress for today. It is so cute. Complete with tights and shoes!!!!!!! It was warm though, so she was a little over dressed. It was over 80 today in Florida.


So when we got home, we put on this dress, it is nice and comfy to play around in. It is also short sleeve. It was a hot day.

The week of dresses - Part one

SUNDAY - This baby is so cute!!!

MONDAY - Dress one. This yellow dress was alysha's when she was a little girl. Sweet!!!

MONDAY - Dress two. Dress one was itchy. :) This is a powder blue long sleeve dress.

TUESDAY - This little dress had a sweet little sweater that matched. It is in the high 80s now, so we are back to short sleeve dresses.




WEDNESEDAY - Sitting in my recliner playing with mommy's phone

randomness

Shayla has morphed into a fussy girl. It seemingly happened overnight. I do believe she is teething, do to her gnawing on stuff and her upset tummy. I do hope there is a light at the end of the tunnel. If all her teeth do this to her, her mommy just might not survive.

It seems like I have had a lot of disappointments lately. Shayla's doctor, who I LOVE, suddenly stopped taking our insurance. I was so upset.

The biggest upset of all was finding out we will not be able to go home and see family for Christmas. Hubby's command decided not to give them holiday time off, like the other command used to do. He normally gets 9 days off at Christmas/New Years. Not this year...... But, either way, Christmas is coming and it is something to look forward to. It will be just the four of us.

On the other hand, my 30th is also coming and it is NOT something to look forward to. Since I will not be in my hometown, I will not even get to do anything really cool. I guess there will be no party or fanfare on this important occasion. Interestingly enough, I am really not dreading turning 30. I won't sink into a deep depression, like some do. I just wanted to celebrate in a cool, adult, childless kinda way. wink wink.

Just to add to my doldrums, I noticed my hair is growing back. (Remember, it fell out after I had The Sweetness) Unfortunately, I am seeing little tufts of new growth that are mostly devoid of color - white.

Speaking of old.................My oldest will soon turn thirteen in two months. Yikes! It just doesn't seem real. When we go out in public, people have a hard time believing she is mine. Not because I looking amazingly young, but mostly cause she looks like she's 16 or 17. One gentleman in Quizno's the other day could not believe she was my daughter. She told him how old she was and he turned to me and said, you look like your about 13. Lol. Ummm.... I wish. People say crazy stuff to us daily, I always respond with, "I'm older than I look" and just smile.

Going places with Shayla all dressed up is like being movie stars. Whenever I put on her little princess dresses and we go out, we get lots of attention. Yesterday we went out to a local place for brunch. People just stop and stare at that little baby girl. We felt like movie stars, all eyes on us. She is such a pretty little thing. That seems to happen when I dress her up, I am getting used to it, but I am not sure I really like all that attention. :)

Speaking of attention. When you have a baby, strangers like to give you advice that you did not ask for. I went to the mall Friday and walked around while Lysh was at the movies. One little old lady stopped me and said to Shay, "You need some socks on your little feet, why don't you have socks on?" She looks at me for effect. THEN - I was sitting in the food court and Shay was in her stroller, facing me, and I was letting her play with the plastic bag. One younger woman comes up to us and says to shay, "That is dangerous, you don't need to play with that." One day I am gonna say what I am really thinking, which is not nice enough to post on my blog. But, I was a nice mommy and said, "she's ok, I am watching her." Strangers are stupid. :) This is something that happens alot. (BTW, the little old lady touched her feet and then recanted her statement because Shays feet were so warm.)

The picture is of Shaylily's head. Lysh thought it was cool how the water droplets looked. :)

On a fun note, I have dubbed this week "The Week of Dresses." Shay has so many dresses that we really never get to wear, so we will wear a different dress everyday this week. I will be taking pics and posting them all along.

Shayla Shots

This is Shayla in Alysha's six month outfit. I wish I had a scanner so I could put the two girls side by side. Shay is so WHITE!! Alysha was so olive skinned.

I am loving that look!!

I had to change the background, that pink was killing me!!